Managing Socially-Responsible Buying:: How to Integrate Non-economic Criteria into the Purchasing Process

Companies are increasingly scrutinized by various audiences and are made accountable not only for their internal practices, but also for their suppliers' behavior. Many purchasing managers and executives are not accustomed to seeing the purchasing function receive so much attention from different parties. As a result, a number of them do not know how to embrace the trend toward socially responsible buying (SRB). The present paper offers a helping hand by (1) shedding some light on the nature of SRB and (2) explaining how companies can incorporate social responsibility criteria into their purchasing decisions.